Between this World and the Next
by May Never Know
Summary: Sequel to "The Cure for the Nightmare". Death the Kid and Maka Albarn go on a "Friends' Day Out", but can't seem to agree on one difficult issue. Meanwhile, a witch plots her revenge. When the time comes, Kid will have to make a choice. And so will Maka.


A/N: Sorry for the wait, Readers. :) Well, here it is: The sequel to "The Cure for the Nightmare", just as I promised.

While it is highly recommended that you read the story that this is a sequel to, I suppose that this story _could_ stand alone. A half-decent recap is given, after all. You'd just be missing out on a lot of relationship development between Kid and Maka that was included in "The Cure for the Nightmare". Plus, a few key statements I'll be bringing up in this.

In any case, I would like to reply to yet another anonymous review that was posted for the last chapter of my previous story:

_To __Obsidian_Flames:_

_Thank you for your review._

_^^ I'm afraid that your e-mail was erased from your review, however. This site does that a lot. _

_It's okay, though. And I'm glad you like KidXMaka, too! :) _

-

All right. Time for the first chapter! Well…Okay. I suppose it's more like an intro chapter. ^^ But, it helps set the mood and provide a recap well enough.

Disclaimer: None of the characters or elements related to Atsushi Ohkubo or the anime adaptation of "Soul Eater" belong to me. All characters belong to their original sources. The only character who does belong to me is my witch. Do not steal her.

Warnings: T for language, violence.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Plans

Ten o'clock on Sunday morning and Maka was hogging the bathroom.

Soul let out a groan as he knocked on Maka's door for the fourth time that day.

"Tiny-tits, you've been in there for an hour. I'd like to take a shower, too!"

A loud huff was heard from inside the bathroom.

"Just another minute, Soul! I'm still getting ready…"

It was the day after Maka and Death the Kid finished off their mission of killing the witch Morgan in New York and putting to rest the souls that she had been collecting for the sake of bringing her dead lover back to life. Kid was out cold for a while during the battle, thanks to taking a barrage of fire for the sake of Maka. The crazy scythe technician had retrieved her scythe and gone after the witch anyway, nearly getting herself killed in the process before Kid miraculously woke up (covered with burns) and saved her life again. Together, they defeated the witch and Kid was one more witch soul towards turning Liz and Patty into Death Scythes. They set off for the hotel and met Black Star and Tsubaki on the way. He had apparently wanted to join in on the mission, too. Even though he hadn't been invited. They'd still had one more mission left to collect Morgan's stash of souls, so they let the ninja and his weapon join them that night and the next day. Somewhere along the way, probably during the times that Kid and Maka were sharing a hotel room, the two meisters had bonded.

Which was why Soul was now standing in front of the bathroom waiting for his technician to finish preparing for a day with Death the Kid.

The scythe in question let out a loud groan as he leaned back against the wall. "Just another minute" had become _twenty-five_ minutes.

"You know, I don't really see why you have to take so long to prepare for your date with Kid. I doubt he'll-"

"It is _not_ a date!" Maka called out from the bathroom. "It's just-"

"Then, why have you been primping for an hour?" Soul was actually the only one who Maka had told about this. She didn't really want it to become a big topic at Shibusen, so she'd let Soul know and desperately hoped he'd get the hint that she didn't want anyone else to. There were odd implications with the "Friends' Day Out", after all…

"I just want to look nice." Maka insisted, a certain pout in her tone of voice.

"Kid doesn't care how you look! Long as you don't look like a slob…"

"Well, I'm trying _not_ to look like a slob!"

"You _never_ look like a slob!" Soul laughed. And it was true. Maka was known for being almost immaculately dressed.

"Th…Then, I want to look even _less_ slobby."

"Why? It's not a _date_, after all…"

"Well, but…" Maka seemed stuck. "Y-Yeah, but…_I JUST WANT TO LOOK NICE!_ Now, shut up or I'll Maka-chop you to Hell when I get out of here."

Soul promptly facepalmed. He muttered,

"_If_ you get out of there…"

Before Maka could shout something else, the door bell rang. Immediately, the scythe technician emerged from the bathroom wearing a flowy, light green, dress with spaghetti straps, matching flats, and a white bolero. Her hair was mostly down, but with a few locks in pigtails like it had been at the Shibusen Commemoration ceremony. She carried a small handbag with some money and essentials, even though she had the feeling that Kid would want to pay for everything.

Another accessory that Maka was holding happened to be a dictionary.

"MAKA-CHOP!"

"OUCH!"

Maka skipped off to the door, leaving a stunned Soul bleeding copiously on the floor. At the entrance was Death the Kid, in his usual black suit, a small smile on his face as he saw Maka. She would have been slightly annoyed that he was wearing the same thing he wore every day…had he not been holding a bouquet of exactly eight white roses.

"Hi, Kid." Maka greeted.

"Oh…Um…Hello, Maka. These are for you…" Kid cleared his throat nervously and raised the bouquet with a small hint of pink in his cheeks. His burns and blisters had completely healed since the previous day.

The truth? Kid missed those burns. He no longer had completely red skin to hide his emotions behind.

"Oh. Not obvious _at all_, Kid." Soul sniggered quietly. His sniggering ceased when Maka quickly turned to him and raised the fatal dictionary while grinning demonically. The threat was received, so Maka turned back to Kid.

"I thought this wasn't a date…" She spoke with a smile and a bit of a chuckle.

The coloring in Kid's face spread slightly.

"Well, ah, yes, but…um…Just take them..._please_." He looked at Maka pleadingly while thrusting the flowers over to her. The previous night, Kid had worked for three hours trimming eight white roses so that each one looked exactly the same as the other and they were all arranged in a perfectly symmetrical fashion. Why did he go to such lengths? Kid had actually forgotten that it _wasn't_ a "date". He only remembered _after_ arranging the white roses. "Crestfallen" would have been an understatement for how he had felt at that moment.

But, no one wants their work to go to waste. So, Kid was delighted when Maka took the roses and breathed in their scent.

"Thanks, Kid. You're sweet." She beamed at him before turning to Soul (who had recently recovered and was now standing behind her) and handing him the flowers. "Would you mind giving these some water, Soul?"

Soul nodded, taking the roses and holding them beneath one arm before turning to Kid.

"You sure this isn't a date, Kid?"

"Yes. Positive." The death god deadpanned before turning to Maka and smiling. "You look lovely this morning, Maka."

Soul facepalmed. Maka gave him a look that would have frightened any sensible creature in the world. Apparently, Soul was a sensible enough creature. After waving slightly, he left to get some water for Maka's roses. So, apparently satisfied, Maka turned to her attractive shinigami friend and smiled while blushing slightly.

"Thank you, Kid." She stepped outside to take his hand. He almost flinched, but managed to subdue the urge while leading Maka over to his skateboard. The two of them hopped on and Kid soared off at a relatively slow speed, though Maka still had to hold on to her friend. This was the only mode of transportation available, besides a silver-plated, black stretch limo with the shinigami skull symbol marking various parts of it in a symmetrical fashion. Both kids had agreed that this would draw too much attention, particularly from students of Shibusen.

It wasn't that Kid and Maka were being secretive about this. They just wanted a relaxed "Friends' Day Out". And, by Shinigami-sama (the only person Kid had told about this), they were going to _get_ a relaxed Friends' Day Out…At least, they hoped so.

"So, Maka, what would you like to do?" Kid hoped that Maka had been thinking about it. Because he had really been too nervous to actually plan anything. All he was able to do was bring a lot of money, wear his usual formal attire, arrange and bring flowers, and hope for the best.

"Hmm…I don't know…" Maka grinned. "Maybe, buy some bread crumbs to feed the pigeons, take a walk at the park, feed the pigeons at the park, go some place to eat lunch, go to the library to check out a few books, maybe fly over to the coast line and walk around at the beach, watch the sunset, eat a nice dinner at a restaurant, watch a flick at the movie theater, sit on the outskirts of town and stargaze…?"

Kid took his eyes off of where he was going for a moment to blink at Maka. It sounded like she'd taken a lot of time planning this…Even more, it sounded eerily like a _date_. A very, very, _romantic_ date. Nevertheless, Kid did his best to just laugh and nod.

"Fine by me. You seem to have it all figured out…"

"Something up, Kid? You're acting a little uneasy…" Maka was always able to know how Kid was feeling, even when he put on a façade or just wore his usual frown. That was probably one of the things he liked about her…

"It's nothing, Maka. I'm just…" He rubbed the back of his head. He wanted to say he was a little nervous. But, then if this was just a "Friends' Day Out", he wouldn't _need_ to be nervous, would he?

"Nervous?" Maka hit the metaphorical nail on the head. "Me, too. Don't worry about it. I guess this is just the first time we've spent a whole day together, r-right?"

Now, _she_ sounded ill at ease. Which was funny because it was obvious she was saying this for the sheer purpose of sounding confident. Kid just nodded and said,

"Right…That's…That's probably it."

"But, we'll have fun. We won't feel this way for long. Right?" Maka sounded more than anything like she herself wanted to be re-assured.

So, Kid nodded again.

"Of course…We'll have fun."

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Witches hold grudges.

And they also hold funerals…Just a little differently than humans do. Thousands of miles away from Shibusen, one such ceremony happened to be taking place.

"Morgan was a kind witch…relatively speaking." Abigail, a witch with black hair and dark brown eyes, was given the extreme honor and burden of eulogizing her little sister Morgan Laraby. It's difficult to eulogize a witch, particularly one so infamous as Morgan. Normally, in a witch's eulogy, all of the destruction she'd done would be recounted in glorified honor while her death (usually caused by Shibusen students) was described to make others sympathize. Morgan had not been a witch of pure destruction, however. Very strange, considering her powers.

So, Abigail had to leave out most of her sister's life and simply focus on the parts that would make any witch proud.

"Born in a dense wood sacred to witches, her powers became apparent earlier than those of most of her family members, including myself…" She went on to recount the major life evens of her sister, including how her lover died and she began to collect human souls for the sake of bringing him back to life. The other witches – family and allies – gathered around the small stage on which Abigail stood beside the small table on which Morgan's corpse lie with the top half of her face utterly destroyed. At the center, there was a great cauldron filled with white flames that hissed and burned. Two assistants stood off to the sides, waiting for their cue.

"When her glorious mission was almost at an end, a death god and a meister from the evil institution of Shibusen came to collect my sister's soul. She fought magnificently against them, but was still no match. So, here we stand today, before this great cauldron of the fires of the netherworld. And, here today, we regret the passing of Morgan Laraby. Fox witch. Fire witch. A great tribute to us all!" Hearing these words, the assistants Millicent and Cecille lifted Morgan's corpse and plunged it into the cauldron's fiery depths.

And then the final moment was at hand.

"As Abigail Laraby, sister of Morgan Laraby, I do solemnly swear to uphold the tradition of the Laraby witch family – To avenge my sister and send her murderers plummeting into the deepest levels of Oblivion!"

A great roar of applause erupted from the audience of spellcasters. They had full confidence in Abigail. Or, at least, most of them did…

As the late Morgan's sister humbly walked off the stage, she was immediately met by her grandmother, a woman who appeared to be in her late fifties. But, as a witch, she was much older.

"Abigail, it makes me proud that you have accepted the role of avenger for poor little Morgan." The ancient witch spoke quietly. "However, you do realize that you will not be able to murder a death god by normal means…"

"Of course, Grandmother." Abigail nodded. "I plan to attack those close to him to end the shinigami's life in a way that does not require brute force. With the circumstances, he will have no choice but to surrender his soul over. I've done my research. He's just that type…"

"Hmm…Indeed, he is." Spoke the wise woman. "However, he is also very clever and intelligent. If there are any holes in your plan, I can guarantee he'll find them."

"Well, I'll just have to make sure there _are_ no holes."

"You're far too confident, Abigail."

"Confidence can be a great virtue."

And so, with reconnaissance in mind, Abigail the Condor Witch flew off into the sky on her broomstick.

What she didn't hear was her grandmother's long drawn out sigh and whisper,

"Yes, but _over_-confidence will be your _downfall_."

Wisdom that had kept this thousand year-old witch alive was something that Abigail had never bothered to listen to.

And she never would.

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A/N: There you have it. Yes, it was short. Intros often are. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be coming out in four days or so. ^^ Happy reading, everyone.


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